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Raspberry Pi Starts Flying Out of Factories, Now Available For General and Multiple Orders

Brad Chacos
Jul 16, 2012

Page 1 of 10

In yet even more itty bitty computing news, the Raspberry Pi crew has announced that they've overcome previous manufacturing difficulties and are now churning out their mini-PCs are the brisk rate of 4,000 a day. Whoop-dee-do, what does that mean for you? Simple: the shortage is over and the Raspberry Pi's various manufacturers are now taking general orders. Plus, you can order more than one now.

That doesn't mean if you order one (or more) today, it'll show up on your doorstep tomorrow, however. The Pi comes from Britain, you see, and all those mini-PCs are manufactured in China. The delay in shipping and customs processing means that UK-types who order from
RS
or
Farnell
, the two European suppliers, will need to wait an additional 4 to 5 weeks before being up a nice little slice of Pi. Americans need to purchase their Raspberry Pi PCs through
Allied Electronics
, with an estimated delivery time of up to 12 weeks.

That long lead time is part of what keeps the cost of the $35 Raspberry Pi B down so low, or as the team explained it on their blog:

If you’ve been waiting for the Raspberry Pi to be in general delivery before you order, now’s the time to get your order in; it helps us to plan the supply chain efficiently if we have a bit of visibility of what’s just down the road.

For those of you worried about how a bare-bones wide-open board like the Raspberry Pi could be useful,
hit this link
, then note that the various suppliers are also selling enclosures, network adapters, USB hubs and SD cards preloaded with a Raspberry Pi Linux OS, if you're so interested. A camera add-on is also in the works.

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